WhatsApp is testing a similar feature to Instagram's Boomerang; failure lets you handle messages

If you are a user of Instagram, you must have seen (or used) the feature called Boomerang. Its very simple purpose: to create a video in loop, except that everything is displayed in the normal order and then backwards. For something similar is coming to the WhatsApp Messenger.

According to WABetaInfo, the feature is still under development and cannot be tested even in beta version of Messenger. The idea that it comes first to iOS and then to Android; Still, there is no specific deadline for the resource to be released.

It will work like this: when recording a video of up to 7 seconds, in the editing screen (the one that appears before you send the video) a new option will appear right next to the GIF. Tapping there enables the feature to be sent to both your chats / conversations and your Status.

Messenger failed

In a related note, Black Hat 2019 (security conference this week in Las Vegas) reported some flaws affecting the messenger.

Check Point Research said it had found different ways to exploit some vulnerabilities. In the first of these, they used the quote / reply feature in a group to change the identity of the person sending the message. In the second, they were able to change someone else's answer text, basically making them say something they didn't say.

Watch a video demo (and note the value in the message):

The researchers also found a way to mix public and private messages (basically altering a private message so that it becomes visible to a group), but Facebook said it had already managed to fix that loophole.

The worrying part of this story, however, is that the company said it would be impractical to fix the other two security holes to get an idea, Facebook has had this information since the end of last year and has done nothing.

Apparently the problem is in WhatsApp end-to-end encryption. This is because the vulnerability depends on the fact that a group participant could access the decrypted version of the messages (if it could not, there would be no conversation), while Facebook does not have that access. Therefore, the company states that it is unable to intervene in this type of attack within the chat.

Here is Facebook's statement about:

We cautiously reviewed this issue a year ago and it is false to suggest that there is a security vulnerability we have provided to WhatsApp. The scenario described here is merely the mobile equivalent of altering replies in an email chain to make it look like something the person did not write. We need to be aware that addressing these concerns raised by these researchers could make WhatsApp less private as it stores information about the origin of messages.